Posts Tagged ‘Carl Sandburg’s house’

One of our very favorite area places to visit is the Carl Sandburg house in Flat Rock, North Carolina. We first started going up there when our children were little and Rob and I still try to visit once or twice a year. The drive from our house only takes about thirty minutes and it's a very pretty drive just about any time of the year.

The Sandburgs moved to this property from Michigan in 1945.When Mr. Sandburg died in 1967 his wife sold the property to the state of North Carolina to be used as a national park site. It looks like the family just left for the afternoon. It is very interesting to see a family home that looks like it was frozen in time in the 1950's.

When you get to the property and park your car you have a nice walk up to the house itself. You can purchase tickets for a tour through the house with one of the park rangers. We have done this many times and always learn some new facts from the different guides.

You can also go into the basement area and watch a short film about the Sandburgs for free and visit in the small bookstore/gift shop. It contains mostly books about nature, the mountains, Sandburg's writings, and information about goats.

The goats are featured because One reason the Sandburgs moved to this property was to provide a better climate for Mrs. Sandburg's prize-winning goat herd. After you tour the house you can continue on behind the house and see some of the resident goats. They keep a small herd of dairy goats who are descendants of Mrs. Sandburg's herd. We love to go up in the spring when the baby goats arrive--usually in mid-April.

We visited last week while Megan and Drew were here and were able to see a two week old Toggenburg goat named Bella and two little Nubian goats (not yet named) who were only two days old! The little ones were wearing dog sweaters to keep warm.

Our favorite "little kid" enjoyed petting and playing with the other "kids".

It doesn't cost anything to park or visit the property, including the goat barn. The only cost is to take the house tour. There are also bathroom facilities, a small picnic area, and a nice hiking trail up to the top of Glassy Mountain. If you have never visited or if it has been a while, I really hope you will consider a trip soon.